9/11. Cambridge House Remembers

As your Cambridge House Team prepares for its annual Resource Investment Conference in Toronto September 15-16, we take time to join members of the brokerage and financial communities, and millions of others, to honour the memory of the 2,996 victims who lost their lives as a result of coordinated acts of terrorism on U.S. soil 10 years ago. For many, the mental anguish and physical circumstances that led to their passing—they knew for many torturous minutes that they were about to die—were so horrific that this black day in American history is simply referred to as…9/11.

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four heavily fueled U.S. airliners shortly after their takeoffs from Boston, Newark and Washington, D.C. At 8:46 a.m., five terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 11, and its 87 passengers and crew, into the 110-storey North Tower of New York’s World Trade Centre complex. And at 9:03 a.m., another five hijackers crashed United Airlines Flight 175, and its 60 passengers and crew, into the twin South Tower. This structure collapsed at 9:59 a.m., followed by the North Tower at 10:28 a.m. Debris from the North Tower fell on the nearby 7 WTC building, a seven-storey structure that collapsed at 5:21 p.m.

Meantime, at 9:37 a.m., five more terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 77, with its 59 passengers and crew, into The Pentagon in Arlington, Va. And finally, four terrorists took control of United Airlines flight 93, intending to crash it into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. But some of the 40 passengers and crew members fought their captors. Realizing the grimly determined uprising might succeed, the terrorists intentionally crashed the aircraft into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Of the entire death toll, 2,606 victims were either within their Twin Towers offices or, in the case of first responders, moving up the stairwells from ground level command posts. The total included 658 employees of Cantor Fitzgerald, a multi-faceted brokerage and investment bank located on floors 101 through 105 of the North Tower. Marsh & McLennan, a worldwide diversified insurance broker occupying the seven floors immediately below Cantor Fitzgerald, lost 295 staffers, 120 more than Aon Corporation, a global provider of risk management and insurance services,

The New York Stock Exchange delayed its opening after the first plane crashed into the North Tower, then cancelled the session altogether after the South Tower was hit. NASDAQ also cancelled trading. The London Stock Exchange and other stock exchanges were evacuated for the day. The NYSE remained closed until the following Monday, and the New York Mercantile Exchange followed suit. Trading on the U.S. Bond Market also ceased because of the decimation of Cantor Fitzgerald, the leading government bond trader.

Gold prices spiked upward, from $215.50 to $287 an ounce in London trading. Oil and gas prices moved ahead for about one week. The U.S. dollar fell sharply against the Euro, British Pound, and Japanese Yen. The day after 9/11, European and South American markets retreated. Insurance losses exceeded $233 billion. All airline flights into and leaving the U.S. were grounded immediately following 9/11, compounding the financial troubles the airline industry was already experiencing.

The utter malice and brutality of the 9/11 attacks prompted the U.S. War on Terror, especially after al-Quaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2004 finally claimed responsibility for the infamous actions. As always, Canada stood with its historic American ally and lost 157 soldiers in Afghanistan between 2002 and the present. And, as 9/11 was the genesis of their overseas assignments, we are honoured to include each of these heroic Canadians in today’s tribute, and salute their families and friends.

For the U.S., the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus homeland security costs, today total multi-trillions of dollars, a figure which impacts the nation’s current and future economic health.

The 28 expert resource analysts featured at our Sept. 15-16 Toronto Resource Investment Conference at the Sheraton Centre Hotel incorporate factors such as these into their forecasts for the short- and long-term performance of resource sector stocks, while our 200 exhibiting public companies provide investors with seasonal exploration results and financing opportunities.

But those matters are a few days away. Right now, we pause to remember all who were lost in the 9/11 attacks. We marvel at the raw courage and devotion to duty exhibited by New York emergency workers, 411 of whom made the ultimate sacrifice. And we salute the grace under pressure demonstrated by those men and women trapped aboard the doomed airliners, or in their offices on the upper floors of the Twin Towers, who placed farewell calls to their loved ones.

Some of those messages were aired on 9/11 television specials this week, and it was the solace that the imminent victims provided to their loved ones that the survivors say will sustain them for the rest of their own days.

Our Cambridge House team is honoured to convey very best wishes to all who suffered losses on 9/11. And we extend this goodwill remembrance to our many long time U.S. resource analysts and business associates, including sponsors and suppliers associated with our annual Silver Summit in Spokane, WA., Oct. 20-21, 2011, and our inaugural California Resource Investment Conference in Indian Wells, CA., February 11-12, 2012.

Sincerely,

CAMBRIDGE HOUSE INTERNATIONAL INC.
Joe Martin, Chairman;
Nicole Evans, President, Conference Division, and
Members of the Cambridge House Team.